Zimbabwe police fire teargas on street vendors

Army trucks and tankers joined Harare’s regular municipal police in a drive against the hawkers, pursuing them through the streets of the capital while firing teargas and water canons.

The southern African nation’s 80 percent unemployment rate has left thousands of people surviving by selling fruit and vegetables, mobile phone credit, trinkets and second hand clothes on sidewalks in the city center.

Such vendors see the city streets as key markets and have over the years refused to be moved from the central business district.